ADMICOM OYJ BUSINESS REVIEW 1.1.-30.9.2023: Revenue increase +11% and EBITA 39% of revenue.

Unofficial translation of the company release on October 5, 2023 at 9 AM EEST. In case the document differs from the original, the Finnish version prevails.

Figures in parenthesis refer to the comparable period in the previous year, unless otherwise stated. Figures are unaudited.

July-September 2023 summary (comparable period July 1, 2022 – September 30, 2022):

• Comparable organic recurring revenue amounted to EUR 7.843 million (7.171), an increase of 9.4% year-on-year
• Revenue of July–September was EUR 8.502 million (8.039), an increase of 5.8% year-on-year. 100% of the growth was organic.
• EBITDA totalled EUR 3.762 million (3.806), amounting to 44.2% of revenue (47.3%)
• EBITA totalled to EUR 3.727 million (3.726) amounting to 43.8% of revenue (46.3%)
• Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to EUR 3.004 million (2.925). Profit for the period was EUR 2.194 million (2.139).

January-September 2023 summary (comparable period January 1, 2022 – September 30, 2022):

• Comparable organic recurring revenue amounted to EUR 22.835 million (20.358), an increase of 12.2% year-on-year.
• Revenue of January–September amounted to EUR 26.127 million (23.576), resulting in +10.8 % growth from the comparison period. Of the growth, +6.8 percentage points were organic and 4.0 percentage points were inorganic growth related to acquisitions.
• During the review period, organic growth was weakened by approximately 3 percentage points due to the planned increased use of Aitio Finland Oy's software development resources for Admicom Group's internal product development projects and the effects of the business model change implemented in the Lakeus business at the end of 2022.
• EBITDA totalled EUR 10.357 million (11.166), amounting to 39.6% of revenue (47.4%)
• EBITA totalled to EUR 10.269 million (10.867) amounting to 39.3% of revenue (46.1%)
• Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to EUR 8.103 million (9.021). Profit for the period was EUR 5.862 million (6.736).
• The Group's number of personnel at the end of the review period was 263 (238). The increase in the number of personnel was due to recruitment in line with the strategy.
• The financial guidance for 2023 remains unchanged.

Key figures

ADMICOM GROUP	7-9/2023	7-9/2022	Change-%	1-9/2023	1-9/2022	Change-%	2022
Revenue, EUR 1 000	8 502	8 039	5.8%	26 127	23 576	10.8%	31 615
Comparable organic recurring revenue, EUR 1 000 1	7 843	7 171	9.4%	22 835	20 358	12.2%	27 340
% of revenue	92.3%	89.2%		87.4%	86.4%		86.5%
EBITDA, EUR 1 000	3 762	3 806	-1.2%	10 357	11 166	-7.2%	14 115
% of revenue	44.2%	47.3%		39.6%	47.4%		44.6%
EBITA, EUR 1 000 2	3 727	3 726	0.0%	10 269	10 867	-5.5%	13 735
% of revenue	43.8%	46.3%		39.3%	46.1%		43.4%
Operating profit	3 004	2 925	2.7%	8 103	9 021	-10.2%	10 811
% of revenue	35.3%	36.4%		31.0%	38.3%		34.2%
Profit for the period, EUR 1 000	2 194	2 139	2.6%	5 862	6 736	-13.0%	7 975
% of revenue	25.8%	26.6%		22.4%	28.6%		25.2%
Earnings per share, EPS, EUR	0.44	0.43	2.6%	1.18	1.35	-13.0%	1.60
Employees at the end of the period	263	238		263	238		241
ARR 3, MEUR	32.7	29.6	10.2%	32.7	29.6	10.2%	30.0

1) Comparable organic recurring revenue includes recurring software revenue and revenue from recurring accounting services. PlanMan Oy has merged into Tocoman Oy on 31.12.2022 and is reported as part of organic revenue as of 1.1.2023. The revenue of non-strategic customers in the Industrial vertical and Lakeus have been adjusted out of comparable recurring revenue for the reporting and comparison period.

2) Operating profit before amortization of consolidated goodwill and goodwill and impairment.

3) The annualised recurring revenue has been calculated by converting the end-of-period monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to the annual level and adding the revenue generated during the last 12 months of the annual adjustment and financial statement fees.

Group CEO Petri Kairinen

"The past quarter was characterised by increased concern about the construction industry's economic cycle, with new housing starts still remaining at a record low level. At the same time, bankruptcies of construction companies have featured prominently in the Finnish press, and earlier in our half-year report we predicted that bankruptcies in the sector would increase towards the end of the year. It is good to note, that our customers business is typically divided into several different subsectors of construction and is also altering quite flexibly between new builds and renovation for example.

From Admicom's point of view, it has been positive to note that sales that improved towards the summer have continued to be at a satisfactory level in relation to the economic cycle. All our solutions improve the efficiency of our customers' operations and there is demand for them even recession. There is a need to manage financials and cash flow, especially during hard times. As a result, our comparable recurring revenue continued to grow by +9.4% during the period. However, the growth was weighed down by decreased use of per user -billed products and increased bankruptcies, the number of which so far is almost double compared to last year's bankruptcy figures.

This year, Admicom has implemented a “Focus for Growth” -phase in line with the updated strategy, where we invested in product development, customer experience and sales and marketing development. In terms of the number of employees, we saw the largest increases during the first half of the year, and at the same time we transferred software developers from external invoicing to internal product development tasks from the earlier Aitio acquisition. As planned, these investments have weakened the company's profitability, which, however, was still at an excellent level of over forty percent of net sales (EBITA 43.8%) during the review period. For the time being, we are very cautious about recruitments as we wait for signs of a turn in the economic cycle. Our number of employees decreased by about ten people from the situation in the summer.

In its review at the end of September, the Construction Industry of Finland estimated that the prolonged recession would reduce the volume of the sector by about -10% this year and by another -2% next year. The estimated drop in volume will have a retroactive effect on Admicom's adjustment fees accrual during next year. The announced measures of the Finnish government and the anticipated stabilisation of interest rates will ease the situation in the construction sector, but the timetable is difficult to estimate. We at Admicom are living strongly with our customers in this recession, and we hope that entrepreneurs in the construction and real estate sectors will survive this economic cycle with as little damage as possible. However, construction will not stop in Finland, and we at Admicom intend to ensure that it will be even more productive in the future.

The implementation of our strategy has progressed as planned, and one milestone in our development was the launch of a new cost calculation product at the end of September. The product is based on Tocoman's leading cost calculation software, but has been adapted to better suit the operations of small and medium-sized builders, i.e. Adminet's core customer base. Increasingly, our customers are recognizing the need for a seamlessly interoperable software package modeled on easy-to-use products in the Apple ecosystem. This is a beacon for us as we develop interoperability and improve the user experience of our software. We will move to a common brand and product naming practices around the turn of the year, from which we can build towards the next phase of Accelerated Growth in our strategy."

Prospects

Financial guidance (remains unchanged)

Comparable recurring revenue in 2023 will grow organically by 8-15% and EBITA will be 35-40% of revenue.

Comparable recurring revenue is defined as a sum of recurring software revenue and revenue from recurring accounting services. Admicom's comparable recurring revenue in 2022 was approximately EUR 27.3 million, from which non-strategic revenue related to accounting business and industrial sector has been eliminated. EBITA is defined as operating profit before amortization and impairment of group goodwill and goodwill.

Themes affecting revenue and profitability

The company sees significant growth opportunities in the Group's software solutions and in expansion revenue and cross-selling to existing customers, but the economic downturn in construction sector is causing uncertainty in the development of new sales in 2023 and raising the risk of customer churn. In addition, the growth in revenue in 2023 will be slowed down by the growing use of Aitio Finland Oy's software development resources for Admicom Group's internal product development projects and the change in the business model implemented in the Lakeus business towards the end of 2022. Strategic investments in growth, growing R&D investments and structural changes in the business weaken the development of profitability.  

Financial publications

The company will publish the annual report of 2023 approximately on January 19, 2024.

Admicom Oyj
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

Additional information:
Petri Kairinen
CEO
petri.kairinen@admicom.fi
+358 50 303 4275

Certified Advisor:
Oaklins Merasco Oy
+358 9 6129 670